Friday, October 05, 2012

PCA 2013 (and a bit more about IASPR 2012)

Call For Papers: Romance Area
Area Co-Chairs: Eric Selinger and An Goris

Deadline for submission: November 30, 2012.

Love and romance are mainstays of popular culture, cutting across the great divides of medium, language, and historical period. From Beyoncé to Bollywood, Dan Savage to Sweet Savage Love, K-Pop to qawwali: if it’s about love, it’s a welcome topic at the PCA Romance area.

We will consider proposals for individual papers, sessions organized around a theme, and special panels. Sessions are scheduled in 90-minute slots, typically with four 15-minute papers or speakers per standard session, with the remaining time available for discussion.

If you are involved in the creative industry of popular romance (romance author/editor, film director/producer, singer/songwriter, etc.) and are interested in speaking on your own work or on developments in popular romance culture, please contact us!

Some possible topics for Romance (although we are by no means limited to these):

interested in any and all topics about or related to the study of BDSM,
sexual kink, or sexual fetishes in all genres, all media, all countries,
all kinds, and all eras. All representations of BDSM, Kink, and
fetishes in popular culture (fiction, stage, screen—large or small,
commercial, advertising, music, song, dance, online, real life, etc.),
from anywhere and any-when, are welcome topics of discussion. We also
welcome any academic discussion of the real-life practice of BDSM,
sexual kink, or sexual fetishes, as well as the lived experiences of
people identifying as kinky.

As mentioned earlier, Dr Nick Redfern posted his paper, on romance at the box office, at his blog. Now Remittance Girl has posted a summary of the conference. Jane Lovering, who "recently won the Romantic Novel of the Year 2012, awarded by the
Romantic Novelist’s Association, for her book Please Don’t Stop the
Music [... which] has also been shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award
for Comedy Romance" (IASPR) spoke at a special session and she's got a brief comment about it at her blog.